


Scared of The Dark

by chrysochrysanthemum



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Biting, Blood, Blood Drinking, Broken Bones, Comfort, M/M, Nyctophobia, Panic Attacks, Vampire Matt, Zombie Tord
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-06-09 10:55:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15265971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chrysochrysanthemum/pseuds/chrysochrysanthemum
Summary: Matt is a starving vampire living out in the middle of nowhere.Tord is a violent zombie who doesn't hesitate to act out, even if it's the wrong thing to do.Matt's afraid of the dark and can't go hunting due to his faulty eyes.Tord decides to be nice once in his life.ON HIATUS!! I'LL COME BACK TO THIS AS SOON AS I GET THE MOTIVATION TO CONTINUE WRITING!! THANK YOU!





	1. 1

Matt watched the orange sky darken from under his little rock cave, clutching his broken umbrella for comfort. Plants scarcely grew and the sky hasn’t been blue for over a year, the aftereffects of the war that happened some time ago. He was sickly pale, even for a vampire, his stomach on the verge of eating itself. It’s been so long since he last fed on something living. Something other than himself. 

He closed his red eyes, sighing. He was dying and he knew it. The thought of dying usually terrified him, even though he was undead. But on nights like these, he was too weak to care. 

The vampire was about to force himself into a state of unconsciousness so he wouldn’t have to deal with the night when he picked up a scent. One that was almost unfamiliar to him, but he knew what it was. 

Blood. Fresh blood. 

Human blood. 

Matt sat up quickly but regretted it when a wave of dizziness washed over him. But his stomach was growling and his mouth was watering. He licked his chapped lips and looked around, seeing a human silhouette in the near distance. He couldn’t see whomever it was clearly, despite the sun still being in the sky. Matt pulled himself to his feet, leaning onto his rock for support, his legs extremely weak. He almost never stood up nowadays. It took way too much energy out of him. He reached out slightly, only the tips of his fingers outside of the shadows. 

When he pulled them back, they were burnt slightly. He sighed. Should he choose to run out and get severely burned only to live a little longer or stay in his rock and risk dying in  
his sleep?

Before he could decide what to do, his legs finally gave out and he fell forward. He fell hard outside his little rock formation, yelling out from pain as the sun’s rays attacked his skin. He tried to get himself back into his cave, but his body wouldn’t move as he wished. It didn’t take long for him to finally give up, laying down hopelessly, whimpering.  
At least the sun was near the horizon rather than high in the sky, he thought. If it were, he wouldn’t be getting just minor burns along his back and arms. His was clothing ripped and full of holes, so it’s not like he had any real protection from the sun.

He was close to blacking out from exerting too much energy when he felt hands on him. He barely noticed someone approached him until he was put back into the shadows. He blinked, trying to get a look at the person picking him up, but his vision was blurry. 

Suddenly Matt had a burst of energy, compelling him to jump up and bite the man’s neck. As soon as his teeth sank into the man’s flesh, he noticed that something was wrong, but he didn’t have time to think about it before the man threw him off of him. Matt hit his back harshly on the rock, knocking the breath out of him. Then a fist made contact with his stomach, making him double over and gag from the impact. 

Matt tried looked up at the other person through teared up eyes. He was swearing, grabbing at his neck and groaning in pain. It didn’t take long for the man to direct his attention back to Matt. 

“I’m angry,” he said matter-of-factly with a thick accent Matt didn’t recognize, pointing at the vampire. Norwegian? Matt tried to push himself away from the man only to hit the rock wall when he noticed something. The man he tried to bite was no human. It was a zombie. 

He looked up in awe. Things would have gotten way worse for him if he had more than just a lick of his blood, though. But it’s been so long since he’s seen one. The thing is, though, the zombie didn’t share the same emotions as the vampire. He grabbed Matt’s arm and pulled and before he knew it he was pinned to the ground, his arms behind his back.  
And that hurt like hell, especially since he had fresh burns on him from the sun. It seemed as if the zombie had no mercy, pushing down hard. Matt cried out in pain when he applied more pressure. The way he held his arms made them feel like they were going to break or fall off. Soon enough, it was too much for him to bare. 

“P-please stop! That hurts!” Matt cried out, begging.

“How do you think my neck feels?” the zombie snapped.

“I-I’m sorry, I just-- I didn’t mean to..!”

“Really? I noticed you eyeing me when I was just passing by. Explain that then?” He really sounded pissed.

“I-I’m sorry,” Matt cried softly. 

“What if I put you back into the sun? Maybe then you’d understand how I feel, vampire boy.”

“No, please don’t!” he pleaded, struggling under his weight. 

Matt desperately tried to push the zombie off of him, having to give up quicker than he wanted to. His whole body went limp and he started to breathe heavily but it was hard to get a good breath in when he had the zombie pressing down on him. 

Matt then noticed the zombie’s grip tighten on his arm. 

“Fine then, I’ve got a better idea,” he said. Matt felt his right arm being pulled back in an irregular way and it hurt. It hurt so much he forgot about all the other pains in his body and he started sobbing. 

“I-I’m sorry,” he kept saying over and over desperately, but the other didn't listen.

He then heard a crack and felt pain shooting from his upper arm. He screamed in pain. What the hell did he just do? Matt asked himself.

The zombie then let go of Matt’s arm, getting up. The vampire rolled onto his back, breathing unsteady, shallow breaths. He didn’t even want to look at his broken arm. He knew he’d probably pass out, and that’s something he did not want to do right now. Not this weak and not in the presence of this… zombie. 

Matt began crying again and squeezing his eyes shut from the pain. No doubt it was broken. 

The vampire felt the zombie squat down next to him. 

“You’re such a baby,” he said. “Stop crying, your arm isn’t permanently damaged.” 

Matt rolled a bit to the side, not wanting to be close to the zombie. “I-it hurts…” he cried out softly. 

A quiet moment passed. Matt looked behind him to see the zombie in the same place, still staring down at him. 

“What are you d—“ Matt began to say, but a sudden wave of pain crashed through his body. He curled up, groaning in pain. His vision was blotted with black. 

“H-hey Vampire Boy! W--"

That’s all he heard before he completely blacked out.


	2. 2

Matt woke up in the dark. He bolted up, frantically looking around. He couldn’t see anything. His breathing quickened and he wrapped his arms around himself tight. He almost didn’t feel the throbbing pain in his arm. 

Matt couldn’t think. 

He was terrified. 

Why was it so dark?

He was about to scream when a door opened, light pooling in the room he apparently was in. He looked up to see it that it was the zombie from that night standing at the doorway. 

“You’re awake,” was all he said. 

“W-where am I?” Matt asked, voice shaking. 

“Hey, calm down, okay?” he said, seeing the fear on the vampire's face. 

“Where am I!? Why am I here!? W-why are you here!?” he yelled out, panic taking over. 

The zombie slowly went over to the bed. The bed that Matt didn’t even notice that he was previously laying in. “For some reason, you passed out and so I took you home,” the zombie said. “I was worried it had something to do with my doing.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been asleep for around a week, Vampire boy.”

“But... why?” Matt asked. 

“Why what?” the zombie asked.

“Why did you bring me here?”

“Because I was worried. I said that already. I got overly violent and I wanted to apologize and make sure you were all right,” he said, “I know you were just hungry.”  
Matt laughed at that word. Hungry. He wasn’t hungry, he was dying of starvation. Oh, how he wished he was just hungry. 

“Dude, you okay?”

Matt shook his head, refusing to talk anymore. He heard his stomach growling again. He wanted to tell it to shut up. 

“Well, um, I got some blood in my fridge for just in case you woke up. It isn’t a lot, but probably enough for a single meal? Do you want it?” The zombie asked.  
Matt just nodded emotionlessly. “Yeah, sure,” he mumbled.

“Oh, my name’s Tord by the way,” the zombie said, holding out his hand. 

The vampire just looked at his hand and then looked away. He just wanted to sleep, suddenly very tired. That’s what he got for yelling at the zombie. Stupid vampire, wasting energy on stupid little things. 

Tord just took his hand back, not giving Matt’s actions a second thought. 

“Right. I’ll be back,” he said, leaving the room. 

Matt looked around the room. It had only a single window with curtains closed, a bed, a nightstand, a closet, and a dresser. Nothing impressive, no other decorations or details. Even the walls were a plain white, the carpet grey.

He got up from the bed, staring at the window.  
.  
Tord went into the kitchen, opening his fridge. He took out a Ziplock bag of blood he got from one of his past victims: a very delicious human. He saved it just for the vampire, but it’s not like he’d hesitate to drink it if Matt never got up. 

He placed it on the counter and got out a tall plastic kids' cup that he had for no reason. He poured all the blood into it, and, for fuck’s sake, he put a straw he found in one of his drawers. He laughed at himself for a moment. Who knew he’d be doing all this for someone he barely knew?

He threw the empty bag away before grabbing the cup and walking back into the bedroom he had put Matt in. As soon as he walked into the room, though, he saw Matt laying on the floor, facedown, unmoving. Something he didn't expect to see Matt doing.

Tord stood shocked for a moment before rushing over, putting the cup on the nightstand, spilling a small amount on the way. Tord kneeled down next to him, poking at his body before pushing him over to his back.

“Vampire Boy, are you okay?” he asked. 

Matt just groaned, his body filled with pain. 

"Why were you on the floor?"

More groaning.

“Hey, um, well, I’ve got you that blood,” Tord said. Obviously, the vampire wasn’t listening. Maybe he couldn’t hear him?

After a moment, Tord saw a distinct look in the vampire's eyes. It was the look he had before he had jumped up and bit Tord when they first met.  
Tord’s suspicions were confirmed when Matt opened his mouth, showing long fangs, hissing slightly. The zombie didn’t hesitate to slap him across the face though, trying to bring him back to his senses. 

Upon the impact, Matt whimpered like a bullied puppy. Tord sighed, annoyed. He tried to grab Matt to move him to a sitting position, but he moved away, trying to hiss and scare him away. It sounded more like a plea to the zombie, though. So he just left him lying there and grabbed Matt’s cup from the nightstand. He held it out to Matt, who sniffed it before sitting up and grabbing it out of Tord’s hands. 

“You act like a wild animal,” Tord grumbled under his breath as he watched Matt discard the straw and greedily drink all of it in one go. 

Tord then semi-quietly watched the vampire. The vampire spilled some on his face but licked it all off of him. Matt then ended up trying to lick the small beads of blood from the bottom of the cup but gave up and started to chew on the rim of it, leaving small bite marks.

“Really Vampire Boy?” Tord asked, staring at him with disappointment. 

Matt looked up. He forgot he was there. He turned away, red-faced. “I was hungry" was his excuse.

“Yeah, I could see that.”

“It’s been so long since I’ve drunk human blood, especially this much. Thank you,” Matt said gratefully, still turned away.

Tord tilted his head. “What do you mean? What else would you drink?” he asked, puzzled. 

Matt opened his mouth to speak, then shut it again, rethinking his answer. He sank into himself. “I- I don’t want to talk about it,” he responded, ashamed to say that he’s been feeding off of small dead animals and... his own blood. That probably isn’t something you should tell someone you just met, right?

Tord was now even more curious.

“What do you mean? Did you do something bad? Because trust me, if anything, I’ve done worse. Guaranteed.”

Matt shook his head. “I said I don’t want to talk about it.”

Tord leaned in. “C’mon, please tell me. I won’t judge,” he kept pushing. “Tell me, Vampire Boy.”

Matt looked at him, frustrated, before standing up and walking away. Tord grabbed onto his shirt, trying to keep him from leaving.

“W-wait! I-I’m sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable--” Tord began saying. 

“It’s fine,” Matt said before pulling Tord’s hand off of his shirt. “But I’ve got to go back home. Thanks for letting me stay the night--week.” He tried to walk away again.

Tord stood up, slightly taller than the vampire. “Home? You mean that little rock place you had? That’s not--”

“It is my home, okay? Plus, I’ve got something I need back there," he responded, stopping.

“You mean your little umbrella? I brought it back with me.” 

Matt turned around, staring right at Tord. “Y-you did?”

“Yeah.” Tord rubbed the back of his neck. “I did, just in case. Even though it’s useless.” He mumbled the last part.

Matt was about to yell at him, tell him that his umbrella wasn’t useless, it was quite the opposite. He decided not to, though. “Thanks...” he said.

“No problem. But now, you don’t really have a reason to leave now, right? You could stay here…” 

Matt looked over at Tord, confused. Why would he want to stay?

“C’mon, look at yourself. You were miserable, and you’re still very weak. You’re probably still in pain.”

The zombie was correct. His arm hurt like hell, although it was slightly better than he had last remembered, and all he wanted to do was lay down and sleep peacefully. He didn’t really want to go leave and live back under his rock.

“I could hunt for you until you completely get better, okay? You still look really sick, too.”

Matt sighed. “F-fine. Then I’ll leave, okay?” he said, but to be honest he wanted to stay forever if he had a future like this. “But why are you suggesting all of this?” he asked.

“I’m making up for almost killing you that time.”

“Y-you tried to kill me?! I thought you were going to just break my arm!”

“Yeah, but I pressed hard down on you, trying to stop you from… breathing…” he confessed.

“Wait, then how do I know you won’t try that--”

Matt had a wave of dizziness crash into him and he fell to his knees. His head started to throb. He clutched onto it, groaning in pain.

Tord kneeled next to him. “See, Vampire Boy. You’d die out there,” he said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Stay.”

Matt forced himself to look up. “F-fine.”

“Heh, thanks," Tord responded, smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tord's just lonely :(
> 
> Sorry if this isn't as good as my last chapter heh


	3. 3

Matt ended up trying to stay in bed all day. It was so comfortable. It surprised him that nobody had slept in it for years.

“I found this place a while ago. I ended up eating the previous family and chilling here,” Tord explained, sitting up next to Matt’s bed while the vampire’s legs dangled by his head. “I cleaned it up too. All their items are somewhere in the attic. It was too cluttered and messy.”

“Yeah, but Tord, there’s like nothing everywhere.”

“I like it like this, Vampire boy.”  
“Heh, whatever,” Mat laughed, despite being in immeasurable pain. He never noticed before, always close to death and not having the time or energy to think about it. After resting the whole day, his body ached. He was barely able to walk to the door without falling to his knees. He hated it, but at least he wasn’t dying anymore, right? And Tord seemed fine with taking care of him for the next few days. He even said it himself. The zombie put Matt’s arm in bandages so it wouldn’t heal incorrectly too.

It was nice.

Around the time the sun was going down, it got a bit quiet, not knowing what else to talk about. It wasn’t a nervous or anxious quiet, it was quite peaceful.

Y’know, until the sun decided to hide behind the horizon. Matt noticed it immediately, he made Tord open the curtains for him. The sun pooled in beside the bed so it wouldn’t hit Matt if he stayed near the mattress. Tord argued that if he wasn’t careful, he’d get bad burns, but the vampire insisted.

He didn’t know why Matt was so desperate for light until it got dark. He noticed that he gradually got closer and closer to him after the sun set.

Matt slid down the bed to sit next to Tord. The zombie noticed he looked nervous, kind of scared. He looked away and tried to start up a conversation, the silence feeling a bit sickening all of a sudden.

“I’m kinda hungry,” Tord said.

Matt just mumbled something softly and carefully scooted closer to Tord.

“I could go for some human thigh right now, but I ate all of my morning stash already,” he continued.

Matt moved himself closer, looking away. Tord then stopped talking and decided to just watch the vampire. What was he doing?

As soon as their shoulders touched, Tord tensed up and moved away, pushing Matt.

“Okay, Vampire boy. What... are you doing?” Tord finally asked, extremely uncomfortable.

It was a bit dark in the room now.

Matt looked in the general direction of Tord. The vampire tried to say something, but ended up stuttering and mumbling, obviously panicking about something.

“What’s wrong?” Tord asked, staring at Matt for a moment more.

Then he noticed something.

“You… can’t see me, can you?” he asked, leaning in a bit closer. He noticed his eyes weren't focused on him, rather staring at something in the distance that wasn't there.

Matt shook his head no. “N-no, I-I-I can’t,” he mumbled, on edge. It looked like he might have a panic attack from the looks of it.

“Hey, calm down,” Tord said, trying to soothe him. “I can turn on some lights for you, but they don’t work all that well and can stop at random times, all right?”

Tord saw Matt nod.

“I’ll have to go outside and leave you alone though. Is that okay?”

Matt shrugged. “Y-yeah? I-I think…?” he replied.

“All right.” Tord stood up. “Then I’ll be right back, okay?”

“Mhmm…” he mumbled, frozen in spot.

Tord walked out of the room, petting Matt’s orange hair on the way. He went down the hall, then through a door and outside. Outside there was a rusty power generator that was very, very old from the looks of it. He knew he had to fix it soon, but up until now, there was nothing pushing him to do so. There was no real need for him to use it before unless he wanted to keep a certain piece of meat cold for later or there was an “anime” he wanted to watch.

He could live without it.

After a few minutes, he finally got it working. He cheered silently and went back inside. Once he got to Matt’s room, he noticed that he was in the same place, still not moving. He turned the ceiling light on and Matt immediately moved his head to look up at it, then to Tord. For a second he looked completely and utterly terrified but the fear from his face melted as soon as he saw the zombie.

“T-thanks Tord,” Matt said, still a bit shaky. Tord went over and sat back down next to him.

For a second the Norwegian was deep in thought. “...You’re a vampire, though,” he said out of nowhere.

Matt looked at him. “Hmm?”

Tord looked back at Matt. “You’re a vampire and yet you’re afraid of the dark? Don’t you have like, night vision?” he asked, confused.

“Heh, no, I don’t. B-but it’s more of the night I'm afraid of...” he said.

“Why? I mean, I’ve met vampires before...she tried to kill me, but still, how come you can’t see in the dark?”

Matt laughed shortly. “Funny story actually…” he said. “I looked at the sun too much and it burnt my eyes.”

Tord looked at the vampire with shock and confusion. “Dude, why the fuck would you do that?”

Matt nervously looked away and softly scratched at his arm. “I… liked how it looked…” he responded quietly, softly laughing.

There was a moment of silence. “So… is that why you’re afraid of the dark?”

“Kinda. I’m scared of it since there’s so many dangers out there and if I can’t see I can’t protect myself… it’s... scary…” he trailed off.

“But what about your other senses?”

“They’re actually really dull for a vampire,” Matt laughed. “Especially since I was dying out there. Some nights I couldn't even feel my arms," he said, but to Tord, it felt like he was hiding something. It got quiet after that.

For a moment, the lights flickered. Tord glanced at Matt and noticed he was slightly uneasy. It flickered again, then it was pitch black. For Matt, anyways.

“Uhh… T-tord??” the vampire called out quietly, his breathing quickening.

“I’m still here,” he responded.

“T-tord?! W-where are you!?” he yelled, anxiety taking over his body.

Tord moved in closer and tapped him on the shoulder. “I’m right here, okay...?”

Matt reached out and grabbed onto Tord’s red hoodie as soon as he felt contact. “W-wait! D-don’t go—" he cried out when the zombie tried to pull himself away from him.

“I won’t, Vampire boy, just… please let go of my shirt,” Tord said.

Matt reluctantly released his grip, wanting constant reassurance that he was, indeed, there.

A moment after the vampire let go, the light flickered back on and both of them sighed in relief. Tord saw that the vampire was grabbing at himself, breathing unevenly.

“You okay?” Tord asked.

“Y-yeah, I t-think so?” Matt responded between breaths.

“Are you sure, Vampire boy?”

Matt didn’t answer until he mumbled something quietly. Tord looked at him carefully.

“What did you say?”

“I… I want to go to bed now…” he said quietly.

“Oh, um, should I leave?” Tord asked.

Matt shook his head. “C-could you stay? I mean, I-I-um...” Matt began stuttering before he just gave up on talking altogether, putting his head down.

“You mean to stay here until you fall asleep, right?” Tord asked.

Matt shrugged slightly. “Y-yeah, sure.” He then nodded, then looked up at the bed. “But... I… um, don’t think I’ll be able to get back up there.”

Tord laughed. “Really?” he said while getting up. He grabbed Matt and placed him back on the bed.

“It’s tall. And my legs don’t really work,” he responded defensively, crossing his arms like a child, even though he was still shaking.

“Sure, whatever Vampire Boy.” Tord looked over at the light switch. “Do I turn off the lights?”

Matt was quiet. “I… I dunno…”

Tord thought for a second, then looked back at Matt. “I’ll be right back,” he said before leaving rather quickly.

Matt got really nervous when Tord left and he didn’t know why, a wave of relief washing over him when he came back. He noticed he was holding something in his hand.  
It was a little chu chu train.

“It’s a night light,” Tord said. “A little girl used to live here, so... yeah.”

Matt might have been disturbed by what he said, but both of them were dead beings who ate humans, so it didn’t faze him at all. He watched as Tord went over to an outlet and plugged it in. It glowed a serene orange color which Matt actually liked. Tord went and turned off the light, watching the vampire carefully to see if he had a negative reaction.

But he didn’t. He was quite fine with the only light coming from the small train. Tord smiled.

“You’re like a baby,” the zombie said, sitting down next to the bed.

“Thanks…” Matt responded, laying down and closing his eyes. Usually, he’d just push himself into an unconscious state, but since there was no real rush he decided to try to fall asleep a normal way.

And after a few minutes, the world faded into black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nyctophobia

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave kudos and comments !!
> 
>  
> 
> This is my first time posing here on Ao3. You can find more works by me under the name ChrysoChrysanthemum on Wattpad.  
> Thank you!


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